The eponymous hall is Aberdour Castle; the reinterpretation of the first element as SSE hawk had already occurred by 1787, and was well established by the 1850s (see OS Name Book 134, 40; for more details, see Aberdour 2011, 9.

It refers to the whole headland, at the inland (north-west) edge of which stands Aberdour Castle (NT19 83), at a similar elevation, while the south-eastern extremity (NT20 84) is called Hawkcraig Point on OS Pathf. 395 and OS Explorer 367.

/hɔ: kreg/ or /hɔ:k kreg/, the former pronunciation reflecting the original form, the latter the reinterpreted one. Both can be heard locally.